A Matter of Perspective

I thought my book wall was pretty good, and everyone who has seen it says, "WOW!", but this place blows my mind!
I recommend looking at the whole post, but I am putting in a picture for you to see if you don't have time to check it out right now.

IKEA Hackers: French Country House Library: "Materials: 60 Billy / Benno Bookcases Description: Faced with a 11m x 4m landing which had been curtained off at either end as bedroom..."

Teaser Tuesday - July 19

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read


• Open to a random page


• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page


• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)


• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Well, I'm back! My course is over, and yesterday I started a new job. Maybe I'll have more time for reading and blogging.

My teaser this week is from a book I'm reading for the second time (It will be part of my Contentment Reading Challenge for this year), by one of my current favourite authors.

Letter Perfect by Cathy Marie Hake

'"I'm so glad you see it my way." Ruth hopped up again. "I've already started a list of my favourite books." She pulled two sheets of crumpled paper from her sleeve.
Is there anything more she could possibly pull from her sleeves? A hanky or a fan is normal - but a knife and sheets of paper? This woman never ceases to amaze me.'

A Song From and For the Heart

2 weeks ago I was a leader on LF8R Camp, which is a winter camp for teens that is run by my church in conjunction with CYC at Forest Edge in West Gippsland.
During our worship time, there was one song that particularly touched my heart, and this was it - Lord of Lords by Brooke Fraser.

Friday Fill-Ins - July 15

And...here we go!

1. I hold many things in my hands, but not my toes.

2. My sister is someone I like to travel with because we then get to spend time together.

3. That day, when my Dad passed away, I knew life would never be the same.

4. I start a new career this year.

5. Trust must be earned, sometimes more than once.

6. As for the future, I am in the dark.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to being at home, tomorrow my plans include going to an engagement party and Sunday, I want to enjoy the fellowship at church and a quiet afternoon!

My Favourite Things - TEA

TEA

... "a drink with jam and bread!"

My love of tea began as a little girl when visiting Nanna and Papa (Dad's parents). Papa would always offer me a cup and pour it from the tea pot, raising the pot up and down to make bubbles!

The milk ALWAYS went in first and then the tea. Forget tea bags! It was always loose leaf black tea and you used a tea strainer while pouring to prevent the tea leaves from going in your cup.

There was a little chorus that Papa would sing sometimes and I found it. Listen to this (not sure about the choice of picture though):

My current love for different types of tea began more recently after I read Dead as a Scone by Ron and Janet Benrey.
This book, although fiction, got me thinking and interested in the different tastes of the teas mentioned. I even used a Darjeeling Tea packet as a bookmark!

I also found it facinating when the character, Flick (Felicity) was describing what happens when boiling water is poured on the tea leaves. Call it the 'tea dance'!

Anyway, if you want a bit more information about this try having a look at their website. You can find it here.

The idea to include this topic in My Favourite Things, came after seeing an episode of Treasure Hunt on the ABC. It was all about tea caddies and I was facinated by them, plus Tunbride Ware was mentioned. Unfortunately I can't find the episode anywhere to rewatch it, and no other information about it. It was filmed in 2002, so that's hardly surprising.

Anyway, my current interest in different types of tea was fuelled by discovering T2! T2 is a shop that sells teas of all kinds - black, green, white, red, fruit infusions (or as the French say, tisanes). And then they sell everything you need to be able to drink your tea - teapots, infusers, teacups and saucers.

My current favourites are Melbourne Breakfast, Perth Breakfast, Morning Tea (no longer available), and Turkish Apple.

I love being able to go into a store and try the teas they have available for tasting and finding out different ways you could have them. For example, Turkish Apple is yummy warm, but it is also perfect cold. It's one of my favourite drinks on a hot summer day - loaded with slices of fresh apple and a few fresh mint leaves! I really want to try the cinnamon one. I think that may be like spiced apple cider!!

A cup of tea really is a great thing. It can make you feel better when sad, and is best shared with a friend.

I'm even thinking of having High Tea for my next birthday!

Contentment Reading Challenge 2011 - April, May, June

It's been a while since I did any blogging - almost a month! But it's been much longer since I updated you on how I am going with this reading challenge.

My last update was at the end of March and I had read a total of 18 books. That left me just two book to get to the 20 suggested for the "Diving in" level of the challenge that I selected. Of course, that didn't mean I was limited to only reading 20 books, and I can say that I have now read more than that.

For April, May and June, I read a total of 6 books for this challenge. They were:

1. The Quilt by T. Davis Bunn
   
2. In Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson
   
3. More Stories from Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson
   
4. All Through the Night by Grace Livingston Hill
5. Sophie's Heart by Lori Wick
6. Exit Betty by Grace Livingston Hill
   

So that now takes me to 24 books for the challenge.
The Grandma's Attic books were actually new to my shelves because I got reprinted copies (see FIRST post), but I had read them before, so I'm including them. They're the kind of books that it doesn't matter how many times you read them, you still get a good laugh.